The Devils will be without a pair of regulars for the final few weeks as the team announced (Twitter link) that winger Miles Wood and defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler have been ruled out for the remainder of the season.
Wood has missed the majority of the year after undergoing hip surgery following an injury that he suffered in the preseason. He made his season debut two weeks ago against Montreal and got into two more games after that while spending some time as a healthy scratch as a precautionary measure. It appears they’re erring on the side of caution with this decision as the team is merely playing out the stretch so there’s no need to risk anything. Unfortunately for the 26-year-old, he’ll now enter restricted free agency for the final time this summer with not much of a platform year to work off of; he’ll be owed a qualifying offer of $3.5MM which is a high price to pay for someone who maxed out at 25 points in a single season over his current four-year deal.
As for Siegenthaler, his season comes to an end due to a broken hand. His first full campaign with New Jersey has been a successful one as he has logged more than 20 minutes a game while playing in all but one contest so far. After being a reserve defender for most of his NHL tenure to this point, this has been a nice turnaround for him. Siegenthaler would be a strong candidate to play for Switzerland at next month’s World Championships if he is able to recover by then; that tournament begins a little more than a month from now on May 13th.
Tankers gonna tank